PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner New Hope Group has deepened its net loss after tax for the 2016 financial year from A$21.8-million in 2015, to A$53.7-million.

The miner reported on Tuesday that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) decreased by 38.8% to A$81.3-million in the financial year and that revenue increased by 5.1% to A$531.5-million.

MD Shane Stephan said the company’s acquisitions over the past year had positioned New Hope to take advantage of Asia’s long-term growth trajectory, which would require significant growth in energy consumption, in particular in imports of high-quality thermal coal.

“Our decision to invest a significant proportion of available cash funds into a 40% interest in the Bengalla coal mine, located in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, at a time when prices were at a low, has had an immediate positive impact on group cash flows.”

The Bengalla transaction was completed in March, when the benchmark Newcastle spot price was $51/t. Since the beginning of July there has been a significant rise in coal prices, with the spot price trading at $70/t currently.

“During the five months of New Hope’s ownership, Bengalla production contributed 1.5-million tonnes to our coal sales, providing Ebitda of A$21.3-million to the group result. This operational performance is consistent with our preacquisition expectations,” Stephan said.

In the next financial year, the project should increase New Hope’s equity production of thermal coal to around 3.5-million tonnes, to a total of 8.9-million tonnes.

Meanwhile, acquisitions by oil subsidiary Bridgeport Energy had positioned the group well to improve production and financial performance in the future.

“Bridgeport is now the second-largest conventional oil producer in Queensland following significant investment in seismic studies identifying drilling targets for oil exploration to take advantage of any increase in oil prices in the future.”